There is a spacious courtyard beside the lake in the suburbs, surrounded by white walls. Many willow trees are planted outside. The breeze blows and the willow branches are graceful. Many houses are built in the courtyard, just like a paradise.???
The owner of the courtyard is named Zeng. He is an old man who is over eighty years old and is known as Master Zeng. He has no wife and children and lives here in seclusion with three apprentices. He is the master who can refine the puppet beast and is also Yan Yulin's uncle.
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In the morning, Qiu Yu and Master Yan arrived here. Under the guidance of Master Zeng's disciples, the two walked into the courtyard. Under the introduction of the latter, Qiu Yu was lucky enough to meet this master and explained the purpose of his visit.
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Yan Yulin specifically asked: "Uncle, this junior is my son Yan Chuang's sworn brother to Jinlan. Please help me."
Master Zeng's face was wrinkled like walnut lines, and his face was cold and inhospitable. He did not look at the young man with new eyes because of his nephew's introduction. He said in a deep voice: "What can you do for me? I'm not familiar with him. I can refine the puppet beast."
, the main raw materials are provided by him, and he still has to pay the craftsmanship fee.”
Seeing his uncle like this, Yan Yulin felt very embarrassed, but he couldn't say anything. After all, he was senior and could only endure it for the time being.
Qiu Yu hurriedly said: "As for the cost of refining the puppet beast, Master Zeng, just ask, I will pay you in full."
Master Zeng's contemptuous gaze fell on the young man's face. Seeing how childish he was, he snorted coldly: "The lowest level puppet beast costs one hundred gold coins for each crafting fee. Do you have that much money?"
Qiu Yu smiled and said, "Money is not an issue. Master, take a look at my drawings first, and then tell me the required materials and labor costs. How about we discuss it later?"
Master Zeng nodded, "Okay."
Qiu Yu immediately presented the jade slip containing the drawings, and Master Zeng took it in his hand. As spiritual energy was injected into the jade slip, drawings appeared in his mind, showing puppets and beasts of different shapes.
Seeing the drawings, Master Zeng's eyes flashed with confusion, and he said thoughtfully: "Generals, soldiers, elephants, chariots, horses, artillery... what are these? It seems to be divided into two camps."
Qiu Yu smiled and said: "This is chess, a game."
There is no such thing as chess in other worlds, and Yan Yulin has never seen the drawings drawn by Qiu Yu. At this time, he couldn't help but wonder, "Chess, please explain it in detail."
Since he was so interested, Qiu Yu patiently explained, "It's a game between two armies, but it has ever-changing features. To play chess, you need a chessboard first."
Master Zeng also became interested and hurriedly said, "Then just draw a chessboard on the table."
"Okay." Qiu Yu stretched out his fingers and drew two fine grooves on the table. As his fingers moved, wood chips flew everywhere. He first wrote the four words "Chu River and Han Boundary", and then drew criss-cross patterns.
, he drew the chessboard in an instant, and said with a smile: "Master Zeng, can you make a model according to the drawings first, and I can practice it on the spot for you?"
Master Zeng was curious, so he did not object. He nodded and said: "It's a trivial matter." As he moved his left hand, a large ball of yellow mud popped out of the ring, and then he patted the table. The ball jumped up and fell, and then divided into
Thirty-two pieces of equal size are distributed on the chessboard.
Later, Master Zeng quickly picked up small clay balls with both hands, held them in his hands for a while and then put them down. The energy in his palms surged and he carved the clay balls into various shapes, including generals in armor, counselors holding feather fans,
Elephants with exposed teeth, warriors driving chariots, magnificent horses...
The drawings are three-dimensional, and so are the models created by Master Zeng, and the speed is very fast. In just the time of a cup of tea, thirty-two chess pieces appear on the table, lifelike, the general is not angry, and the horse is ready to gallop.
, it can be called a miraculous craftsmanship, which made Qiu Yu highly praised, "Master is really a miraculous skill."
Master Zeng snorted: "Stop flattering and tell me quickly, how do these two parties play?"
Qiu Yu explained the methods and rules of playing chess, which made Master Zeng and Yan Yulin eager to try. They immediately started playing and played happily. He watched the game and pointed out mistakes at the same time, just like a coach.
It didn't take long for the two old men to master how to play chess, winning three games in a row. Yan Yulin lost one after another. Master Zeng's gloomy face finally showed a smile, and he laughed and said that the opponent was his loser.
, and invited Qiu Yu to play chess with him.
In fact, Master Zeng's chess skills were at the level of a beginner, with nothing advanced. However, in order to make him happy, Qiu Yu also secretly wanted to make the killed man defeated and make the old man very happy.
After the chess game was over, Qiu Yu quickly asked, "Master, do you think these can be used to refine puppet beasts?"
Master Zeng said: "Okay, do you want to refine an ordinary one or a more advanced one?"
"Of course it's high-end." Qiu Yu said without hesitation.
Master Zeng hummed: "Advanced puppet beasts require their masters to have strong strength. Are you sure you can control them?"
Qiu Yu smiled and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Master."
Yan Yulin said: "Nephew Qiu Xian has his own methods. Uncle Master can just make it according to the drawings."
Master Zeng finally nodded, "However, making these puppet beasts requires the skeleton of a second-level magic beast, preferably horns and teeth, and thirty-two second-level magic beast crystal cores. In addition, each puppet beast
Collect five hundred gold coins, the total is sixteen thousand gold coins."
Qiu Yu had all the things he asked for, and replied, "No problem," he took out things from his storage bag one after another. There were more than ten horns and tusks of a second-level monster, and he pulled out another one.
There were so many monster bones in his bag, not to mention the required crystal nuclei, so he grabbed a lot of them and placed them on the table. They were colorful and beautiful. Finally, he took out a bag of gold coins.
"Thank you Master Zeng for your willingness to take action. Here are 20,000 gold coins. Please accept it." Qiu Yu said respectfully.
Seeing that this boy was quite open-minded in his work, Master Zeng also felt a little good in his heart. He took the money bag, weighed it, nodded and said: "Deal, you can come and pick it up in two months."
Uncle Master was finally willing to take action, which made Yan Yulin very excited and felt that the trip was finally worthwhile.
Qiu Yu was even more happy and quickly agreed, secretly looking forward to it and not knowing what the three-dimensional chess model would look like as a round model.
It was noon, and Master Zeng's disciples prepared a simple meal to entertain the two guests. It was not until the afternoon that Qiu Yu and Yan Yulin left here and went back to Yanyu.
In the evening, a huge ghost-blooded spider was running fast on the dirt road. A young man was sitting on it. The strong wind was blowing his long hair, making him look elegant and ethereal. It was Qiu Yu who was heading to the Demon Realm. Even though he was supported by a nine-tailed fox.
, thinking about the seventh-level monster he would face in the future, the Earth Lizard King, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. Could this trip be a road of no return? No matter what, under the current circumstances, there was only one intention to move forward.